Mechanism for feeding paper, cards, envelopes, etc.



May 29, 1923. 1,457,158

H. C. GAMMETER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING PAPER, CARDS, ENVELOPES, ETC

Filed Oct 7 1920 6 Sheet's-Sheet 1 H. C. GAMMETER MECHANISM FOR FEEDINGPAPER, CARDS, ENVELOPES, 'ETC Filed Oct. '7, 1920 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. c.GAMMETER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING PAPER, CARDS ENVELOPES, ETC

Filed Oct. 7. 1920 e Sheets-Sheefi 5 May 29, 1923.

1n FIIL $74 /vya Dan;

May 29; 1923. 1,457,158

H. C. GAMMETER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING PAPER, CARDS, ENVELOPES, ETC

Filed Oct. 7, 1920 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 May 29, 1923; 1,457,158

H. c. GAMMETER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING PAPER, CARDS, ENVELOPES, ETC

Filed Oct, 7, 1920 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 May 29 1923.

H, C. GAMMETER' MECHANISM FOR FEEDING PAPER, CARDS, ENVELOPES, ETC

Filed Oct. 7, 1920 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Patented May 29,1923.

- UNITED sr-ATES PAT NT OFFICE.

HARRY C. GAMMETER, or CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO, AssIcNoa 'ro THE AMERICANMUL'rIonArn COMPANY, or CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION or onto.

, MECHANISM roa FEEDING PAPER, CARDS, ENvELorEs, ETC."

Application filed October 7, 1920. Serial No. 415,344.

To an whom it may cancer-1b.. 1

Be it known that I, HARR C. GAMMn'rER, a citizen of the'UnitedStates,residing at Cleveland Heights, in the county ofGuyahoga and State ofOhio, have invented a certain new and useful. Improvement :in

Mechanism for Feedin Paper, Cards, Envelopes, etc., of which t efollowingis a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and efiicientmechanism for feeding paper, cards, envelopes, etc. Certainty of feed ofbut one article at a time and ready adjustability for different sizes orcharacters of the articles are features of the invention.

My feeding mechanism is adapted for use in conjunction with variousmachines to act on the product fed, as for example, a printing foldingor sealing machine. The invention is shown herein as adapted to feedmaterial to a multigraph, and such embodiment is hereinafter more fullydescribed. The essential novel characteristics of the invention aresummarized in the claims.-

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a vertical sec-.

feed mechanism; Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the papergripping portion of the paper feed mechanism and the adjacent portion ofthe multigraph; Fig. 6 is a detail in the nature of a plan showing thedriving mechanism for the paper feeding belts; Fig. 7 is an enlargeddetail in the side elevation of the ratchet portion of the belt feedingmechanism; Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic 'perspective illustrating one of thefeeding belts and its carrying rollers; Fig. 9 is a detail inperspective, s owing one of the paper retarding rollers and its carryingarm; Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation of one side of the frame, showinthe adjustable mounting of the back members of the frame.

The frame of the paper feed mechanism comprises a cross portion 10,having upright standards 11 and 12, which carry upright bars 13 and 14,to which are rigidly secured horizontal cross bars 15 and 16. Thehorizontal frame bar 10 is secured in any suitable manner to the machinewith which the I paper feed-cooperates. I have shown this cross barsecured by screws 18 to the edge of a table top 20, onwhich a multigraph21 stands. Suitable lugs 19 extending rearwardly from the bar 10 rest onthe top' of the table between the legs graph. The upright bars 13 andlet-are pre erablyremovable from the standards 11 and 12 to enableconvenient packin and are secured. to them by set screws 25. he cross 22of the multi-' bars 15 and 16 may conveniently extend thru the bars 13and 14 and be secured to them by nuts 27.

The paper supporting and positionin body of the feed mechanismconsistsof shee t metal members slidably mounted on the cross bars 15 and 16.Thus there are two vertical fiat strips 30 and 31, each having bosses32.

and 33 slidably mounted on the respective bars, each boss being providedwith a set screw 34 for clamping it in place. These two strips 30 and'31form abutments for the front ofthe pile of paper to be fed. Each striphas projecting from its outer edge a plate as 35 and-36, the lower edgeof which is turned inwardly horizontally as at 37 and 38. Thehorizontalflanges 37 and 38 form supports for a pile of paper sheets,envelopes, cards or other articles to be fed. The plates 35 and 36 formguides for the end or side edges of such paper articles, while thevertical strips 30 and 31 form abutments for the front of the stack.

In order to maintain the ends of the articles to be printed inan-abutting position against the strips 30 and 31, I have provided theback plates 17 which may be made from one piece of sheet metal in such amanner as to form the U-shaped slide way 23, which is adapted to embracethe .upper and lower faces of the bottom strips 37 and 38 and are thusslidably maintained thereon.- The upwardly extending portion 17 is bentoutwardly to present a surface which tapers toward the abutment strips30 and 31. By adjusting the back plate along the bottom strips untilthey abut and underlie the edges of the sheets it is'apparent that thebottom of the stack will be urged toward the multigraph.

The simple loosening of the set screws holding the "front strips 30 and31 may enable adjustment of the two paper positioning members toward orfrom each other for and the arms swing on their common pivot into aposition more at an angle. to each 'cther or more nearly straight,according to whether the side members are brought near each other orseparated. Either side member, therefore, may be positioned by looseningits set screws 34, together with the clamping nut 45, and shoving theside members as desired, and thereafter tightening these clampingmembers.

These standards 11 and 12 above the cross portion 10 of the frame takethe form of flat webs 50 and 51, which are-braced by an inclinedtransverse web portion 52. In these webs 50 and 51 are journalled twoshafts 53 and 54, on which are mounted beltcarrying rollers 55 and 56,there being three rollers shown on each shaft. Over each of the rollers55 and the roller 56 at the rear thereof is mounted a continuous elasticbelt 60, preferably made of rubber. The rollers 55 may be crowned toinsure the belts tracking on the rollers. Each belt is preferably acontinuous strip of rubber, having short projections 61 on each surface.These projections are arranged in rows parallel with the axes of theshafts. The rollers are splined on their respective shafts so that theymay be shoved toward and from each other, but are compelled to rotatewith the shafts. Suitable mechanism hereinafter described is adapted toperiodically turn the shaft 53 in the direction to feed to the upperreach of the belt forwardly, as indicated by the arrow in F ig. 5.

It will be seen rom Figs. 1, t and 5, that the paper supporting strips37 and 38 terminate a short distance in front of the belt. The outermostportion of the paper stack is supported by the back plates 17, but theforward portion rests on the u per reach of the belts and against theront strips 30 and 31. The upper reaches of the belts are horizontal andstand slightly higher than the supporting strips 37 and 38, and the footof each front strip is a giant distance above the corresponding Justabove the two extreme belts, where they pass onto the extreme rollers56, are a pair of elastic retarding rollers 65 and 66. These rollers aremounted comparatively tightly on studs 67 carried by and pro ectinginwardly from levers 68 and 69,

memes which are pivoted to the side member 35 and 36, respectively. Thelevers extend to the rear of their pivots a considerable distance, andare there provided with arcuate slots 70 into which extend clampingbolts carried by the side members, and provided with wing nuts 71. Theloosening of these nuts enables the rear ends of the levers to beadjusted up and down, which changes the presentation of the retardingrollers 65 and 66 to the belts.

In operation the retardingrollers are positioned so that they standabove the belt a distance substantially equal to the thickness of thesheet of paper fed and ma terially less than the thickness of twosheets. At the rear of these rollers, the front strips 30 and 31 arecurved forwardly concentric with the roller, as shown at 74: in Fig. 5.As the back plates 17 are tapered toward the strips 30 and 31, it is to'be seen that the forward edges of the sheets are constantl urged tofollow the contour of the retar ing rollers, and the forward travel ofthe belt causes the paper to take the position shown at A in Fig. 5, thelowermost sheets projecting slightly forwardl from the surmountingsheets. The retard: ing roller holds back all of those sheets which passunder the curved edge 75 with the exception of the lowermost sheet,indicated at A in Fig. 5. This sheetis fed forwardly between the beltand the retarding roller directly above it. The rollers 65 and 66 areclamped by their studs .--tight enough so that they do not rotateinoperation, and thus effectively retard all but the lowermost sheet.Their roller form, however, enables them to be manually turned abovetheir supports to bring a fresh surface into use whenever desired.

When the supporting members and feeding'belts have been laterallypositioned according to the size of paper, envelopes or other articlesto be fed, and the position of the retardin rollers is adjusted so thatthe paper may ust pass easily between them and the belt, the material issimply deposited in a stack in the skeleton pocket thus provided andrests at its forward end on the belt and toward the rear on the strips37 and 38. Then when the belts are fed forwardly by the rotation of theshaft 53, the sheets one after the other are fed out forwardly from thefeeding mechanism.

For many uses it is desirable to allow a period of rest betweensuccessive feedings of sheets. The drawings show a convenient operativemechanism for the shaft 53, adapted to accomplish this, result.Referring to Figs. 2, 4, 6 and 7, it will be seen that the shaft 53 isprovided with collar 80, which is connected by a pin 89 with.

a disk 82 carrying pawls 83. An aligned shaft 81 having a bearing in ahollow boss .wheel 80 rigid thereon, which cooperates with the pawls todrive them in the right hand direction, these pawls being pressed bysprin 84 into engagement with the ratchet w eel. 0n the shaft 81 is ainion 86, with which meshes a rack 87, f drmed on the side of a bar 88.This bar has in it alongitudinal slot 99, which extends over theend'portion of the shaft 81, the bar being held in place by a collar 90-on the shaft. The bar 88 has its other end pivoted to, a crank 92 on adriving shaft 93, shown as mounted in the supporting table 20.

, The rotation of the shaft 93, it will be seen, reciprocates the bar88. On the outward stroke of this bar the rack teeththereon rotatethe-pinion S6 in the right hand direction, which carries the ratchetwheel in this direction and turns the pawl disk in this direction, thusturning the pulleys in the right hand direction and feeding the upperreach of the belts forwardly. On the return movement of the bar 88, therack will rotate the pinion in the left hand. direction, and this causesthe ratchet wheel to pass idly across the pawls. The belts are thereforeoperated to feed the, paper forwardly durin half the rotation of thedrivilng shaft, an are idle during the remaining alf.

Figs. 1, 2 and 5 of the drawings illustrate the feeding mechanismadapted for use with a multigraph, and in such use the periodicaloperation to the belts described is very' desirable, since after thefeeding of a heet has been well started it comes into the grip of theregular feeding mechanism of the multigraph. which thereafter controlsits progress. The stack feeder of this invention may be timed withreference to the multigraph so that the sheet is fed from the feedmgmechanism into the multigraph slightly before the multigraph feedoperates to grip it. The forward edge of the sheet is thus stopped bythe multigraph and the intermediate portion buckles slightly, as shownat A in Fig. 5. This buckle gives the sheet a forward spring when themultigraph feed releases it and starts to move it.

The multigraph has a rotary printing drum 100, Fig. 1, which carries ona portion of its surface type or other impressing members, which type issuitably inked, as for instance, by a ribbon 101, or otherwise asdesired. Beneath the printing drum is an impression platen 102, suitablygeared with the drum by means not shown. This platen may also be gearedwith the shaft 93, Fig. 2, by means of an idler 104 and a gear 105 onthe shaft 93. The multigraph paper feed comprises feeding rollers 106and 107 the former of which are adapted to be driven by the platen shaft108 by gearing not shown. -109 designates suitable stop fingers on themultiraph normally in the path of the paper, but which at the desiredtime are automatically depressed to free the paper, and at the same timethe roller 107 is depressed to pinch the paper between it and the roller106, and

thus feed it forwardly. This operation of the stop fingers and the upperroller is usually effected by not herein shown.

It will be seen from the above description that my paper feed mechanismis well adapted for use in conjunction with a multigraph. It may beconveniently carried in front of the multigraph in the space ordinarilyoccupied by the hand-feeding table, and it 0perates to feed the sheetsinto the grip of the standard multigraph feed at a time just pre--ceding the operation of the multigraph feed to grip the paper. Thepresent invention, however, is not limited to use in conjunction withthe multigraph, as my paper feeding a cam on the multigraph,

mechanism is capable of many other adaptations.

Having thus described my invention, I cla1m:-

1. In a paper feeding mechanism, the combination with a propelling belthaving its upper reach positionedto support the forward portion of astack of paper, of a retarding device cooperating with said belt, and amovable lever carrying the retarding device.

2. In a paper feeding mechanism, the com bination with a propellingbelt, and a retarding device cooperative with the belt,'of a pluralityof members adapted to support the paper, a positioning member adjustablycarried by the paper supporting member, and comprising an inclined endpiece for engaging the rear edge of a stack of paper to be fed.

3. In a paper feeding mechanism, the combination of means forpositioninga stack of paper, a pair of arms carried thereby, a pair of retardingdevices projecting toward each other on the inner sides of said arms. apair of feeding belts adapted to engage the undersurface of the bottomsheet adjacent to its edges, and means for driving said belt in thedirection to feed the sheet.

4. In a paper feeding mechanism, the com- .bination with laterallyadjustable devices each having a front abutment, a side wall and abottom flange, and means to enga e and feed the paper located betweenthe. si e walls and in front of the bottom flange.

' 7. The combination with a laterally adjustable positioning devicecomprisin front abutments, side walls and bottom anges, of endless beltshaving their upper reaches between the side walls and in front of thebottom flanges.

8. The combination with a positioning device comprising side walls,bottom flanges and inclined supports slidable on the flan es, of endlessbelts having their upper reac es between the side walls and in front ofthe bottom flanges, and retarding devices adapted to cooperate with thebelts.

9. The combination with a laterally adf justable positioning devicecomprising front abutments, side walls and bottom flanges,

V or rear supports slidable on the flanges, endless belts having theirupper reaches be tween the side walls and in front of the flanges, andretarding devices in front of the front abutments and adapted tocooperate with the belts.

10. The combination with a laterally adj ustable positionin devicecomprising front abutments and si e walls, of endless belts having theirupper reaches between the side walls, arms pivot-ally mounted on thepositioning device described to be laterally adjustable therewith, andretarding devices ..;carried by said arms and cooperating with v 35* thebelts.

11..In a paper feeding mechanism, the combination of a frame, comprisinga cross member and a pair of upright standards, and cross bars carriedby the standards, of paper positioning devices slidably mounted on thecross bars, and comprising front stops, side walls and bottom supports,and feeding mechanism adapted to enga the forward portion of the bottomsheet 1n the stack of positioned paper.

12. In a paper feeding mechanism,'the combination of a frame, of a pairof paper positioning devices independently slidable on theframe, andeach comprising a front stop, a side wall and a paper support,adjustable means for bracing the rear rtion of the positioning devices,and fee ing mechanism adapted to engage the forward portion of thebottom sheetv in the stack of positioned paper. p

13. The. combination with laterally adjustable positioning devices eachmade of I sheet material and comprising a front abutment, a-side wallprojecting rearwardly therefrom, and a bottom flange projecting and alongitudinal flange, a rear support slidable on the flaaiige, a pair oftransverse shafts, laterally justable pulleys thereon, and endless beltson the pulleys located 7 between the side walls in front of the flangesand adapted to engage and feed the bottom artic e in a stack.

15. The combination, with a machine for acting on paper, and, having itsown paper feed, of an automatic feeding device adapted to f paper fromthe stack to the feed first mentioned, said automatic device having apaper feeding belt, and means for periodically operating it timed tooperate in proper uenoe with reference to the feeding mechanism firstmentioned.

16. The combination with a rotary printing. machine, having its ownpaper feeding device, of an antic pa r feed having means supporting a.stac of articles to be fed, an endless mlt en aging the lowermostarticle, and means or periodically operating said belt to advance thearticle in timed relation with the paper feed of the printing mechanism.

17 The combination with a rotary printing machine having its ownpaperfeeding device, of anautomatic paper eed having means supporting a stacof-articles to be fed, an endless belt engaging the lowermost article,and means for 0 rating said belt to advance the article in timedrelation with the paper feed of the printing mechanism, and adjustablemeans cooperating with the belt to restrict the feed to one sheet at atime. n

18. The combination with a rotary printing machine, having its own paperfeeding device including a stop finger, of an automatic paper feedhaving means for supporting a stackof paper, an endless belt engagingthe lowermost sheet, and means for periodically operating said belt toadvance the sheet in timed relation with the paper feed

